A new treaty for the Eurozone? Book launch with Duff, Verhofstadt, Hübner, Berès

On 15 March 2016, Andrew Duff’s latest book "The Protocol of Frankfurt: a new treaty for the eurozone" was launched at the European Parliament in Brussels at an event organised by the Spinelli Group, the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and the European Policy Centre (EPC).

In a context where the survival of the eurozone seems uncertain due to the flows in its institutional structure, the Protocol of Frankfurt would provide it with its own government, budget, resources and economic policy. It also puts solutions forward to increase the democratic legitimacy of its decisions and breaks the taboo on the idea of a "two-speed Europe".

At a time when the EU finds itself in a perfect storm of crises which it seems unable to overcome, a bold move is needed to reinvigorate the EU’s system of government and stave off the risk of disintegration. In order to address the inherent weakness of the EU’s monetary and economic governance, this pamphlet proposes a new treaty for the Eurozone: the Protocol of Frankfurt. This is the first ever attempt to draft a treaty aimed at setting up a fiscal union. The Protocol of Frankfurt provides the constitutional framework for a proper economic government and will, hopefully, also serve to accelerate the debate on the Five Presidents’ Report. Realising that the time is not ripe for a major constitutional overhaul, the pamphlet instead puts forward a shorter treaty revision that concentrates on re-engineering the Maastricht arrangements for the Economic and Monetary Union, taking on the form of a Protocol to be added on to the existing Treaties. Article 48(2) of the Treaty on European Union allows the government of any Member State, the European Parliament or the Commission to table amendments to the Treaties. Our hope is that somebody, informed by this draft Protocol, does just that," said Andrew Duff, former MEP and honourary president of the UEF.

Guy Verhofstadt (President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament), Danuta Hübner (Chair of the European Parliament Constitutional Affairs Committee) and Pervenche Berès (MEP, member of the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee) shared their thoughts about the initiative.